After the vote, Koontz, council finance chairman, said he would make a motion to take $75,000 out of the town general fund to pay the expected public safety deficit for the year.

Told by town attorney Ken Raines that the move would require an ordinance that could not be brought up without being advertised, Koontz announced that he was resigning as finance chairman.

"I hereby resign from the budget and finance position and I suggest you appoint Mr. Kirkpatrick in my place," Koontz said after he and Kirkpatrick had disagreed over budget estimates during the discussion.

The council did not take action on naming a finance chairman.

Woerner said Pledger had done a good job, but the town cannot afford the extra expense.

"I don't deny that he's done a good job," she said. "He's done a marvelous job. He is a great chief, but if you have a great chief that you cannot afford without cutting back other's people's hours or letting other people go, that's what the restructuring is about."

Woerner proposed appointing one of the remaining four patrol officers as acting chief to eliminate the administrative position and the $42,000 annual salary.

Koontz also said the proposal was about cutting costs, not a reproach against the police department. He said the police force is the largest department in the town and, with a budget of $315,000, takes up more than a third of the town's annual spending.

"I've got nothing against them," Koontz said. "I'd like to have 20 cops, but the reality is, how are you going to pay for them?"

Kirkpatrick, council public safety chairman, said town officials must cut costs, but Elberta cannot afford to reduce police protection.

"I know it's our responsibility to look at the budget, but when this comes up, it hurts the department," Kirkpatrick said. "I know that we've got to address it somehow, but to try to police 45 square miles and give 24-hour coverage with the people that we've got is just about impossible."

Koontz said the police department is expected to have a budget deficit of $75,000 this year out of a total town budget of $900,000. He said eliminating the chief's job would allow the town to keep the patrol officers, whom he called "the worker bees," and maintain protection.

"They, (the police department) right today, do not have enough money left in their budget to meet payroll for the rest of the year," Koontz said. "Something has got to be done. We can't run a deficit, that's against state law."

Koontz said the town's total deficit this year will be about $125,000 and officials must cut costs by $200,000 in order to balance next year's budget.

"Do we want to take money out of our savings and throw it down the rat hole or do we want to make changes that we're going to have to make anyway come August to meet a new balanced budget?" he said.

Williams said Pledger has done a good job in the last three months in cutting costs, including eliminating overtime. He said that when Pledger was hired in August at an annual salary of $42,000, town officials promised that amount would be increased to $55,000 after six months.

Williams said Pledger turned down the raise earlier this year after six months on the job.

"He's forgoing a raise to support this town," Williams said.

Pledger was out of town Tuesday and could not attend the council meeting, Kirkpatrick said.

Williams said he expected the council to schedule a special meeting to discuss revenue shortages and the budget.